Secrets Revealed
by hiskissisbliss
Summary: Lux explores her relationship with Eric, but a dangerous situation risks everything. When their secret comes out, how does her family deal? Takes place between the incident at Lux's former foster parents' house and the trial. A little different from show.
1. Chapter 1 Intro

Staying the night at Tasha's always made Lux feel better when Cate and Ryan were fighting. That seemed to be all they did lately. Yell, slam doors, have angry sex, then yell and slam doors again. And going to Baze's wasn't much help either. He was never there and she really couldn't stand to be alone right now. She had to be with someone all the time in order to keep from thinking about everything that happened last week. How was she going to explain all of this to Eric? The test results, the stroke, the car wreck? Would he ever forgive her for lying to him?

Her head was whirling when Tasha came back in the living room. "Hello, Earth to Lux? Do you want popcorn with this flick or what?"

"Um, yeah, sorry, I guess I spaced for a minute."

"A minute? You've been mentally MIA for a few days now. Is everything okay?" Tasha asked like nothing had happened. Could she really just go on about her day when their entire world could be ripped apart at any minute?

"Definitely not okay. Not only could we be in major trouble for bashing my former foster dad in the head with a shovel, which he is hospitalized right now by the way, but also I'm hiding everything that happened from Eric. I still haven't told him about the MRI and the…"

"Stroke." Tasha finished what Lux couldn't bring herself to say out loud. "Look Lux, I'm not worried about what happened this weekend because it was purely self defense. He had no reason to grab you like that. You didn't attack him or threaten him. He was the same asshole he was when you lived there. And if it becomes a legal issue, then we'll face it together just like we always do." She was trying to be reassuring but there was a really good chance that things could get extremely messy and she knew that. Especially once Cate and Baze found out. Lux had been lying to them for so long now that it was completely exhausting. She didn't even know what things she'd lied about and what things she'd told the truth about anymore.

"And as far as telling Eric about the MRI, which is what led to the rest of the mess in the first place, that's between you two. But if you really care about him as much as you say you do, you need to tell him, and not later, now. It's only fair that if there's even the slightest complication and something like that could happen again, he needs to know about it." She was suddenly very pushy about the topic, but she was right. "And even though I don't like the situation, I know you well enough to know that once you set your mind to something, there's nothing anyone can do to stop you. If you're going to have a real relationship with him, he needs to know."

"I guess you're right. It came up in the hallway the other day, but I didn't want to get into with him there. I would have just broken down crying and he wouldn't have been able to comfort me. Not only that, but Sam was there, too. He knows about me and Eric and I'm not entirely sure how to deal with that either." The more she kept talking the more overwhelmed she was getting. How did things spin so out of control?

"We can deal with Sam. Blackmail him to keep his mouth shut or something. But right now, sitting here contemplating what to do isn't helping the situation. Go talk to Eric."

"I guess. I'll see him at tutoring tomorrow…" She started thinking about how to explain things to him without breaking down completely.

"No, not tomorrow, not at school, you need to talk to him tonight. Face to face. Call him." She was majorly persistent.

"I don't even know what he's doing. I can't just call and demand that he come meet me. And we'd have to go somewhere…"

She cut her off, "Stop making lame excuses. This is important Lux." She picked up Lux's phone and scrolled down to Minnesota, then pressed send and held it up to Lux's ear. Before she could stop her, he answered.

"Lux, what's going on?" He asked, he already sounded worried. It was starting to get late and it was a school night. Unfortunately her brain and her mouth weren't working together and nothing came out when she tried. "Lux, are you there?" He asked again.

"Yeah, sorry. Are you busy? I really need to talk to you." She said looking at Tasha as she mouthed the words for her since her brain couldn't function properly.

"No, it's cool. What's up?" He wanted to do this on the phone. There was no way she could explain everything like this. She motioned to Tasha.

"Tell him you need to see him." She whispered. Lux nodded as if she was coherent enough to realize what she was saying.

"Um actually, is there any way you could meet me? It's kind of important." She was trying not to freak him out and also trying to go through a good meeting place to meet in her head. There shouldn't be too many people out tonight. It was almost eleven.

"Yeah, I can do that. Lux, you're scaring me. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I mean, I just really need to see you." She switched on her sweet voice, hoping it was convincing.

"So this is just a late night ploy to see my smiling face?" He was flirting, it was too cute and Lux fell right into it in order to cover up her real motive.

"Busted, you caught me. Meet at the park beside Tasha's? I don't think there will be anyone out this late tonight."

"Yeah, the usual spot. I'll be there in about 10 minutes." She hung up the phone and let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Everything is going to be fine, Lux." Tasha used her reassuring voice again, but this time it wasn't so confident.


	2. Chapter 2 Damaged Goods

The park seemed darker tonight than usual, which was good for them; concealed by the cover of darkness. Lux planted herself on the bench behind the pavilion. It was on a path that most people usually didn't take. The air was colder than she'd realized when she had first left Tasha's and she could see her breath, the heavy moisture in the air lying heavily on her hair. The plain, long-sleeved t-shirt she was wearing wasn't quite enough. She knew she should have grabbed a jacket.

A moment later though and it didn't matter. Eric made his way through the trees and appeared beside her on the bench. As soon as he sat down and their bodies were close enough that hers was on fire. She wondered if his body reacted to hers in the same manner. He turned and gave her the softest kiss, just his way of saying hi.

"So what was so important that you had to drag me out in the cold in the middle of the night?" He said it with a joking tone. She must have really spooked him on the phone. "This couldn't wait until morning?" The look he gave her was serious.

"No, it couldn't, for several reasons." She said, and turned her body more towards his and started to unravel everything in her mind. "Eric," She paused for a moment trying to figure out how to phrase things, "I lied to you the other day." That was not the right way to phrase it. "Not lied to you to hurt you, but lied because it wasn't something we could talk about in the middle of the school hallway."

He swallowed hard, attempting to prepare himself. She could tell he was afraid of what she was going to say next. "Okay," he replied with uncertainty, but he wanted her to go on.

"This is kind of a long story," but the look he gave her meant that it didn't matter to him how long of a story it was. "I was born with a heart defect. They corrected it when I was little, but the correction caused… a sort of clot." she let that settle for a minute before going on. "Then, when I was in 7th grade, the clot broke loose and traveled to my brain. I had… a stroke… and that's what caused my learning problems." She looked into his eyes searching for understanding, but all she saw was confusion.

"What caused the clot to…?" It was the question she had been hoping he wouldn't ask. She wanted to leave that part out. But it was part of the truth and Tasha was right, if she really wanted to make this work with him, then she would have to tell him everything. She took in a deep cool breath.

"Trauma," she didn't know what else to say. How was she supposed to explain this to him? "I got in a fight, and I was pushed down the stairs by my foster dad."

He sat for a minute, not looking at her, but into the darkness of the park. She could feel her eyes start to sting and she fought back the tears. She was sure that at any minute he was going to get up and walk away. But he didn't. He turned to face her and took her tiny cold hand into his larger, warmer one. He traced her thumb with his and stared at it as he spoke.

"Your foster dad, he was the man in the article that Sam had, the man in the hospital right?" He still didn't look up at her. Maybe it was out of disappointment that she had lied, or maybe because he didn't want to know the truth.

"How did you…"

"His name was in your files." His eyes met hers and were not angry like she had first assumed, but full of understanding. "I looked it up online. I knew something was off by the way you were talking. I just… I had to know what it was." He looked down at their hands again. Now he sounded disappointed in himself for snooping around in her business. "I get why you didn't tell me everything right away. I know that's why you didn't make it over to Tasha's for our date, but you should have told me you were in trouble."

Her eyes burned and hot tears rolled down her cold red cheeks. She sniffled and that moved his attention from their hands back to her face.

"Awe Lux, come here," he said and he pulled her tightly into his arms. She put her arms around him too and just cried. She released everything she had been holding inside. It was the first time she had cried over any of these issues, the first time she'd talked about them with someone else besides Tasha, and it was so nice to take comfort in Eric. "Shhh, it's okay. We'll figure this out," he was trying to be comforting, but she could sense the fear in his voice. This stuff was out of his control and it would be hard for anyone to see how a teacher could help a student with these issues without being too involved. They both knew that was part of why she hadn't said anything before. That it wouldn't have made a difference.

After a few minutes they pulled apart, he placed his still warm hands on her cold face, and he kissed her forehead and then lowered his face to hers and kissed her lips so gently, if it wasn't for the electricity bouncing off her skin she never would have known they had actually touched. She swallowed and took a deep breath in, attempting to regain her composure.

"Tasha made me come tell you tonight. She said it couldn't wait until in the morning," she said, trying to reach her main point. "Probably because she knew I would need you to comfort me, and because…" she broke off for a minute, unsure of how steady the words would come out, "There is a chance that there could be more complications, that I could…" Man why couldn't she just say it?

"Have another stroke?" She nodded when he finished what she couldn't say out loud and more tears streamed down her face.

She tried to make light of the dreary situation, "I'm like a ticking time bomb," she said with a nervous laugh. But it wasn't funny and they both knew it. "I just wanted to be fair to you and let you know. It's only right that you know what you're getting… damaged goods."

"Lux, you're anything but damaged," he leaned in and kissed her again. This time less gentle and more passionately. Their mouths relaxed and she could taste him tasting her and both of their bodies became more urgent, needy. His hand found her hair as her fingers met on the back of his neck, both pulling each other closer. But then he pulled away leaving her completely breathless. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…"

"It's okay." She said quickly, still trying to catch her breath, "It's getting late anyways. I'll see you for tutoring in the morning?"

"Yeah, bright and early." He replied, thankful for the change in subject. Their intimacy still made him a little uncomfortable.

He stood up and then leaned down to kiss her again, this time keeping distance between their bodies to try to keep things slower. And then he disappeared between the trees the same way he had came. She sat on the bench a little while longer replaying everything that had just happened in her head. He knew literally everything about her and he still wanted to be with her. _How could I get so lucky?_ She thought. After a few minutes by herself and without Eric there to keep her warm, she started to shiver and decided it was time to go back to Tasha's. She lay down on the couch and realized that the last person she saw tonight was going to be the first person she'd see in the morning. She smiled at the thought and closed her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

She walked through the silent school, down the empty hallway, and to the classroom at the very end. She paused at the door, mentally preparing herself although she had no clue how Eric would feel after sleeping on everything last night. She wasn't even sure how she felt about it all. She let out a sigh, turned the handle, and took a step inside.

"Good morning, Lux" he said with a sweet smile.

"Good morning, Mr. Daniels" She responded, making sure to put extra emphasis on every syllable of his professional name and giving him a flirtatious smile. They could get away with a little more right now because none of the students and very few of the teachers were in the building. School didn't start for another hour. She took a seat at the first desk in the row directly across from his.

He got up with a handful of papers and sat down beside her. "Let's get started," he said. They spent most of the tutoring session reviewing The Scarlet Letter for the test coming up next week. But it was the furthest thing from Lux's mind. She just listened to the sound of his voice and enjoyed the feeling when their arms would brush against one another. She started to daydream, remembering the night of the camping trip when they were swimming in the lake. The way their bodies felt together with the water between them. The way he kissed her so gently, then how things became more lustful. The fear and adrenaline that rushed through her body when the sounds from the woods shattered the perfect moment. Damn, things were going so well up to that point.

"Are you even listening?" he asked, impatiently, "You're not going to understand this if you don't pay attention."

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry," she looked down and pulled her hands to her lap. She smiled secretly to herself, "I guess I was daydreaming."

"What's going on in that head of yours?" He was genuinely starting to worry about her. Her headspace had been pretty messed up lately. He was thankful she confided in him last night, but he wondered what else she could be hiding.

"I was kind of… um… fantasizing." She let that trail off.

"About?" Was he really going to go there? She didn't want to have to explain that she was thinking about things that weren't exactly PG.

"Well, I've been thinking… a lot lately, actually," she stopped again. The anticipation was killing him and he gave her a very impatient look so she continued. "What would have happened on the camping trip? I mean if…"

"If we hadn't heard someone in the woods?" He asked. He was now quick to read her mind. His mind had often wandered to the same place. He just didn't feel quite appropriate discussing it with her here at school.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I wouldn't have stopped you," she said with a naughty smile.

He stood up and walked over behind his desk, an attempt to create some distance between them. These types of conversations always seemed to end in an argument and he could feel it coming now. She knew that the teacher/student circumstances made intimacy difficult for them, yet she pushed the topic anyways. He also didn't want to be too close to her because he would rather hug and comfort her than fight with her. She could feel the argument coming too so she started to gather up her books and put them in her backpack. He leaned over his desk, placing both hands on it and bracing himself. "If something had happened," he paused for a moment, "I'm sure I'd probably be feeling pretty guilty right about now." He held his breath waiting for her response.

"Here we go again," she sighed. She stood at the desk and put her backpack over her shoulder, shaking her blond curls in disappointment. She could feel a headache coming on and fighting with him was only going to make it worse.

He straightened up and in an attempt to keep things from getting too heated he said, "Lux, it's… it's really complicated."

"No, Eric, it's really not," she argued in protest, she raised her voice, "it's pretty much the simplest thing in life," she stressed each word, trying to drive the point home for him. She felt her body flush, her face becoming hot and red. She was going to have to get out of there and fast or he was going to see her cry. She was so emotional and sensitive over him and the sense that he was rejecting her bothered her more than she liked. She just hadn't realized how it was affecting her physically and she was starting to get nauseous. "I have to go."

"Lux, wait, please," he pleaded with her. Another teacher walked down the hallway by the classroom and they both looked away from each other, frustrated and trying to act nonchalant. He handed her a few papers, practice quizzes for the exam. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and stuffed them in the front pouch of her backpack. "I don't want you to think…" he trailed off, looking down at his now empty hands, "you know how I feel about you. Believe me. It's not that I don't want…"

She was feeling even sicker now, and her body was hot but cold at the same time. Could she really be this upset? What was going on? She was in incredible physical pain but she couldn't tell where it was coming from. Her head? Her stomach? Her entire body was aching, throbbing and she was dizzy. Her vision started to go black and she could hear her heart pounding in her head. Her mouth was moving, she was begging him for help, but nothing was coming out. She managed to gasp his name before she crumpled to the floor, unconscious.


End file.
